Thursday 30 June 2016

Movie Review: Red Heat (1988)


A prototypical buddy cop action movie, Red Heat is all about flying bullets, macho men and attempts at witty one-liners. Some of it works, but most of it doesn't.

In Moscow, Captain Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger) tracks down lethal drug trafficker Viktor Rostavili (Ed O'Ross). The criminal escapes and lands in Chicago, where he establishes contact with local thugs and arranges for a major new drug deal. When Viktor is picked up for a minor traffic infraction by Detective Art Ridzik (Jim Belushi), Danko arrives from Moscow to escort the prisoner back to the Soviet Union. Nothing goes as planned, Viktor is soon loose and carnage is unleashed on the streets of Chicago.

Directed and co-written by Walter Hill, who helped invent the buddy cop movie in 48 Hrs., Red Heat is a generic example of the genre and offers an episodic, incomprehensible and generally irrelevant plot that serves no purpose other than moving the action from one set-piece to the next. A good portion of the film has characters speaking in Russian with no subtitles, and once the setting moves to Chicago, Hill's sole preoccupation is to create the opportunity for Danko's next one-liner and Ridzik's next snarky retort as they engage in firefights and running battles with the bad guys using progressively bigger machinery.

The action is of course over the top, the mayhem on a grand scale, as the pursuit of one man converts Chicago into a war zone. In his brief time in Chicago Viktor manages to both get married to dance instructor Catherine Manzetti (Gina Gershon) and antagonize a gang of heavily-armed black thugs, ensuring that Danko and Ridzik have plenty of reasons to pursue suspects and dodge high-calibre bullets. Somewhere in there Hill throws in a MacGuffin in the form of a locker key where a bag full of something important is locked up, triggering plenty of chases, threats and hissing matches.

Schwarzenegger as a straitlaced Soviet cop is more subdued and emotionless than usual, maintaining a fixed expression and monotone delivery of monosyllabic words. Belushi fills the gap with an over-animated take on cynical Chicago cop Ridzik. Peter Boyle and Laurence Fishburne are generally wasted in generic roles as Ridzik's superiors.

Ridzik: Well, tell me something, Captain. If you've got such a fucking paradise over there, how come you're up the same creek as we are with heroin and cocaine?
Danko: Chinese find way. Right after revolution, they round up all drug dealers, all drug addicts, take them to public square, and shoot them in back of head.
Ridzik: Ah, it'd never work here. Fucking politicians wouldn't go for it.
Danko: Shoot them first.

At no time does the film pause to take a breath, explain itself, or attempt to find any character depth, at least not in English. Red Heat tosses in a few good zingers and boasts reasonable production values, but while the temperature is high, there is nothing of substance in the oven.






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Wednesday 29 June 2016

Movie Review: Narrow Margin (1990)


A cramped action movie, Narrow Margin confines itself to a moving train and finds little traction in a contrived plot about a district attorney protecting a reluctant witness to a mob hit.

In Los Angeles, Carol Hunnicut (Anne Archer) meets lawyer Michael Tarlow (J.T. Walsh) for dinner on a blind date arranged by mutual friends. They are interrupted by mob boss Leo Watts (Harris Yulin), who confronts Tarlow about missing money. Leo's goon shoots and kills Tarlow, not knowing that Carol is a witness. She hurriedly leaves town and finds refuge in a remote cabin in Canada's wilderness.

Deputy District Attorney Robert Caulfield (Gene Hackman) and Detective Dominick Benti (M. Emmet Walsh) track Carol down and try to convince her to return to Los Angeles to testify against Watts. But a mob hit squad is hot on Caulfield's trail and he has to spring into action to escape the flying bullets and save Carol's life. They jump on a train to Vancouver, triggering a long hide-and-seek game between Caulfeild and assorted henchmen.

Directed and written by Peter Hyams, Narrow Margin is a remake of a 1952 Richard Fleischer film. The modern take stumbles into a prolonged and unconvincing showdown on a slow train, as Caulfield bundles Carol from cabin to cabin and takes off to confront the bad guys in scenes with stale threats punctuated by implausible action.

It is quite clear early on that Caulfield can trust no one, the bad guys have infiltrated the district attorney's office and evil awaits at random stops along the way in the Canadian wilderness. The henchmen suffer from the common disease of instantaneous incompetence when provided with opportunities to finish the job. Caulfield predictably stays one step ahead of all his pursuers, although he too is capable of moronic moments that serve to prolong the chase and run down the clock towards the magical 90 minute mark.

Meanwhile, Carol is reduced to sitting in dark train cabins, staring out of the window and doing little until the next time Caulfield comes knocking on the door for another bout of wooden dialogue. Despite the scarcity of material, the script never takes a meaningful risk to delve into the characters beyond their superficial trappings.

In one of his weaker outings Hackman is not able to rise above the material and offers little to latch onto beyond the typical government agent following his own strong moral compass. Anne Archer fares worse, her 1980s hairdo not helping as she is confined to a static woman-needs-protection role. Neither witty nor entertaining, Narrow Margin is as dismal as its damsel in distress.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.


Tuesday 28 June 2016

Movie Review: The Holiday (2006)


A Christmastime romantic comedy with two love stories unfolding simultaneously in London and Los Angeles, The Holiday offers soothing vanilla entertainment and achieves all its objectives in an attractive, star-filled package.

In London, the emotionally fragile Irene (Kate Winslet) works for the Telegraph newspaper and harbours a hopeless crush on work colleague Jasper (Rufus Sewell). He keeps her hanging as a side-interest while pursuing romance and marriage with another woman. In Los Angeles, the independent and confident but emotionally cold Amanda (Cameron Diaz) is a producer of movie trailers; she kicks out her live-in boyfriend Ethan (Edward Burns) once she discovers his infidelity. With Christmas approaching, both Irene and Amanda decide on a break. They connect online and agree to a two week house exchange.

Amanda is quickly lonely at Irene's small and quaint cottage in the English countryside, but her mood brightens considerably when the half-drunk Graham (Jude Law), Irene's brother, unexpectedly stumbles through the door. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles Irene meets her next door neighbour, the elderly Hollywood screenwriter Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach). She also connects with Miles (Jack Black), a film score composer. Amanda and Graham jump into a physical relationship before settling down to get to know each other, while Irene is more circumspect. She helps Arthur rediscover his passion while he helps to rebuild her self-esteem, and she starts to befriend the jovial Miles.

Directed and co-written by Nancy Meyers, The Holiday is an inoffensive and high quality double romantic comedy. Within the confines of the genre, the premise is reasonably fresh, the humour understated, the performances generally excellent, and the film oozes a rich syrup of distinction.

Meyers gains the bonus of two stories in one movie, and avoids many of the cringe inducing cliches that often plague romantic comedies. The Holiday has are no contrived misunderstandings and no sudden conflicts between the lovers that need to be resolved before the end credits. Instead the romance progressions are remarkably calm, and the film offers four mature, life-tested adults (and one older gentleman) grappling with disappointments, opportunities and affairs of the heart.

The film finds a few highlight gems. When Amanda decides to track down Graham at his house and uncovers his backstory, what she finds is a perfectly imperfect set-up. Graham is at once made more real and more complicated, offering much more than Amanda bargained for and redefining her parameters of what love can mean. The comedy highlight is a three-way overseas phone call with Iris discovering the hazards of call waiting while trying to simultaneously communicate with her brother and Amanda.

Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz and Jude Law deliver accomplished and committed performances, with Diaz perhaps emerging with the best glow and impeccable comic timing. Jack Black suffers in comparison and is often out his league, not helped by an underwritten role. Eli Wallach adds a potent shot of veteran talent, as his Arthur Abbott takes on the task of educating Irene about the power that resides within women through Hollywood's back catalogue.

At 15 minutes over two hours, the film is overlong, and suffers from a gloss that may be too shiny, situations and locales a little too perfect, and characters too likeable. But The Holiday is a greeting card of a film, the type that warms the heart and induces a smile when delivered with care and genuine affection.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.


Monday 27 June 2016

Movie Review: High Anxiety (1977)


A parody of Alfred Hitchcock's signature films, High Anxiety stumbles and falls into low-brow comedy of the stupid kind.

The respected Dr. Richard Thorndyke (Mel Brooks) arrives in Los Angeles to take over as the head of the Psycho Neurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous. The previous head died under mysterious circumstances, and Richard soon encounters the weird characters who make up the hospital staff. Nurse Diesel (Cloris Leachman) hisses evil and looks like death warmed over, the oily Dr. Montague (Harvey Korman) is ambitious and incompetent, while Dr. Wentworth (Dick Van Patten) appears nervous enough to be a patient and is primed to be the next victim.

Thorndyke, who suffers from a fear of heights condition known as high anxiety, meets some of the patients and finds wealthy industrialist Arthur Brisbane (Charlie Callas) locked in his room, acting like a dog. On a trip to San Francisco to attend a conference, Thorndyke is approached by the icy blonde and breathless Victoria Brisbane (Madeline Kahn), Arthur's daughter, who wants to help her father. After a series of strange events, Thorndyke begins to suspect that the Institute is home to a nefarious conspiracy.

Directed, produced and co-written by Brooks, High Anxiety attempts to recreate the parody success of Young Frankenstein, this time by celebrating psychological suspense thrillers, but fails miserably. With a complete absence of ambiance, plot, or wit, Brooks defaults to lowest common denominator primitive humour, and the film collapses into a series of unrelated and entirely unsophisticated sketches.

Scenes that are meant to be funny depict a psychiatric patient acting like a dog; a murder committed by loud music; and secret sadomasochistic sessions at the institute. While the suspense genre relies on nuance, hints of danger and careful build-up, High Anxiety dispenses with anything resembling a deft touch and piles on the harsh juvenile antics, almost all of which fall flat, with many of the scenes unnecessarily extended in length to mask the absence of substance.

The references to Hitchcock are plenty, including the recreation of scenes and themes from North By Northwest, Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds, Dial M For Murder and Spellbound. The Psycho shower attack scene is telegraphed minutes in advance, but the execution is still clever. Perhaps the one good joke in the film riffs on The Birds, with the feathered critters finding a new way to take their revenge on humans. Otherwise Brooks and his team of three other writers are unable to weave anything resembling an actual story worth following, and High Anxiety defaults to a line-them-up-and knock-them-down series of obvious references to other films.

All the performances are ridiculously over the top, with Leachman particularly guilty of manic excess. High Anxiety attempts to salute the master of suspense, but delivers a heap of nonsense instead.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.



Saturday 25 June 2016

The Movies Of Nancy Allen
















All movies starring Nancy Allen and reviewed on the Ace Black Blog are linked below:

The Last Detail (1973)





Carrie (1976)





1941 (1979)





Dressed To Kill (1980)





Blow Out (1981)





RoboCop (1987)





Out Of Sight (1998)





All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.
The Index of Movie Stars is here.



Thursday 23 June 2016

Movie Review: The Getaway (1972)


An action film trading on star appeal, The Getaway offers reasonably slick and fast-paced entertainment, but all the stunts, squealing tires and shoot-outs cannot conceal the limited substance.

In Texas, prisoner Doc McCoy (Setve McQueen) is denied parole four years into serving a ten year sentence for armed robbery. Unable to tolerate life behind bars any longer, Doc instructs his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) to strike a deal at any price with sleazy businessman and master crime lord Jack Beynon (Ben Johnson). Beynon pays off the right people, Doc is released and Beynon connects him with hoodlums Rudy (Al Lettieri) and Frank (Bo Hopkins) to plan and execute a bank robbery.

The heist is messy and several dead bodies are left behind. Doc and Carol find themselves on the run with a bag full of $500,000, trying to make it to the Mexico border, with the authorities, a wounded Rudy, and Beynon's men all on their trail. Doc then uncovers a nasty secret that severely strains his relationship with Carol, while Rudy takes veterinarian Harold (Jack Dodson) and his wife Fran (Sally Struthers) hostage as he mounts his own chase for the stolen money.

Directed by Sam Peckinpah and written by Walter Hill adapting a Jim Thompson book, The Getaway perfectly exploits McQueen's star wattage. A bad guy with good guy looks and less evil intent than all the other bad guys, Doc McCoy oozes McQueen's customary coolness. The film is more about watching McQueen slice through the Texas landscape with the company of a blazing shotgun and a smoldering MacGraw, and less about plot, character or context.

The actual events of the film are quite thin on the ground. The Getaway is a two hour post-hold-up chase, with plenty of padding and fairly ridiculous distractions. The supposedly sharp Carol allows herself to be duped by a rail station conman, triggering a long ordeal for Doc to regain control of the bag full of money. Meanwhile, Rudy's quest for revenge gets bogged down in a tiresome and ill-conceived attempt at dark and sexual humour with Harold, Fran and a pet cat.

But the action scenes are what matter, and Peckinpah conjures up some fine set-pieces. The bank hold-up and its immediate aftermath is tense mayhem, Doc and Carol tangle with the local police in a couple of small towns, they have to extract themselves from a truck full of garbage, and the final showdown at an El Paso hotel is a satisfyingly bullet-riddled conclusion to all the running around.

MacGraw and McQueen fell in love while filming, and while there is undoubted chemistry between them, the sparks cannot hide MacGraw's atrocious performance. Although Hill's script contrives to supply her with the worst lines, her wooden delivery and blank expressions expose a model trying to be an actress and failing miserably. Al Lettieri leaves an impression as the sweaty and unrelenting hoodlum who simply will not give up the chase, while Slim Pickens makes a late appearance near the border.

But with McQueen exuding his sizzling brand of dominant magnetism, The Getaway can get away with sub-par content in almost all other departments.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.